Punish the sinners by John Saul

Author:John Saul [John Saul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SF
ISBN: 9780440170846
Published: 1990-05-02T17:46:14+00:00

15

“You look like hell.”

Dr. Shields stared at Margo and motioned her into a chair.

“I feel like hell,” she admitted. “I was up all night”

The psychiatrist put the report he had been reading into the top drawer of the desk, and leaned back in his chair.

“Peter Balsam?” he asked.

Margo nodded mutely, then, reluctantly, began telling him about the discussion with Peter that had kept her up all night At first the psychiatrist listened in silence. Then, as she continued her story, he began interrupting her with questions. When she was finished, he sat with his hands folded in front of him, lost in thought

“Do you want some advice, or did you just want to talk it out?” he asked finally.

Margo shrugged helplessly. “I don’t really know. If you have any advice, I suppose I might as well hear it.”

The doctor nodded noncommittally, then looked sharply at Margo. “Just how much does Peter Balsam mean to you?”

“I don’t know,” Margo said dully. “A lot, I thought But after last night, I’m not so sure. The whole thing sounds so weird, I’m not sure I want to be involved at all.”

“Well, it’s not that bad,” Dr. Shields said gently. “After all, you aren’t involved with his problems. Yet.”

“Yet?” she repeated.

“Yet. I mean, so far, everything that’s happened to Balsam has only happened to him. Any time you get too uncomfortable with it, all you have to do is stop seeing him.”

“But I’m not sure I want to do that. I want to know what’s happening, before I make the decision. Does that make any sense?”

Dr. Shields nodded. “So how can I help? What’s bothering you most?”

She looked at him levelly. “The marks on his back. The welts. Dr. Shields, you have no idea what they look like. They’re awful!”

He leaned forward now, and stared at her intently. “Tell me about them.”

She closed her eyes, and as an image of the strange markings on Peter’s back came to her, she did her best to describe them. As she talked, a chill passed through her. When she was done, she looked at the doctor.

“Well?”

“You’re sure the skin wasn’t broken? Not even abraded?”

“I’m positive. And they didn’t hurt him, either.”

“That figures. It sounds to me like their origin is hysterical.”

“Hysterical?”

“It’s not an uncommon phenomenon. Although in this case it seems to me to be a rather bizarre manifestation. Essentially, it’s the same thing as psychosomatic illnesses. The wish becomes the reality.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Margo said. “Are you telling me Peter has a subconscious desire to be beaten?”

The psychiatrist shrugged eloquently, but when he saw the expression his gesture brought to Margo’s face, he tried to reassure her.

“It doesn’t necessarily indicate that at all,” he said. “The subconscious works in all kinds of strange ways. And don’t forget the circumstances of the manifestation. If what you say is true—and I don’t have any reason to doubt it—it sounds to me like Balsam’s got himself mixed up with a pretty crazy bunch of priests. Do you think

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